491 
“ON THE POSITION ASSUMED BY THE FORE- 
FOOT OF THE HORSE IN THE VARIED MOVE- 
MENTS OF THE LIMB.” 
By T. Paton, V.S., Military Train. 
Messrs. Editors, — With reference to Mr. Joseph 
Gamgee 5 s paper “ on the position assumed by the fore-foot 
of the horse in the varied movements of the limb,” permit 
me, through the columns of the Veterinarian, to offer a few 
remarks. Your correspondent gives as his opinion, “ That 
in the solid hoofed quadrupeds the general law is obeyed which 
guides the movements of the limbs in all animals.” What, I 
would ask, is this general law to which he alludes ? I presume 
it is analogy of anatomical construction in combination with 
organism in action ; and if so, how, in the truthfulness of 
anatomical analogy, can he reconcile to such a general law 
the progression of solipedes, or the undivided hoof- tribe, 
with man, or those animals who have the pedal extremity 
divided into phalanges, as the colossal elephant, &c. ? Is 
implantation of a necessity the same, whether the animal — 
man — tread on his os calcis (the point of hock in the horse), 
or the solipede on the horny encasement of an undivided 
foot ? 
Animals of different classes and instincts are furnished 
with extremities peculiarly adapted to their habits of 
existence, rather than as organs of locomotion, to which, 
however, they are, with infinite wisdom, made perfectly 
subservient. The progression, also, of animals differs as often 
as their construction. Some walk, others leap, while others 
swing themselves — as the sloth during the wildest storm 
from branch to branch, or tree to tree. Animals which walk 
or run are commonly provided with pads, composed of 
fibrous and cellular tissue, with thickened cuticle or horn, 
which convey to me rather an idea of protection to the 
inner and more sensitive parts. Man has provisions against 
concussion, which is amply met by the arrangement of the 
bones and intervening substances, as cartilages, synovia, 
&c. At page 10 of the January number of the Veterinarian , 
it is stated of the foot, “when at the greatest allowable point 
of tension, the heel is brought in apposition with the ground. 5 ’ 
This is so far correct ; yet, in the natural paces of the horse, 
I confess my inability to discover in which of them he sends 
out his foot to such an extent. Your correspondent may 
